Examination of Controlling Parameters for Total Alkalinity in Long Island Sound Rivers

• Other Authors: McGuinness, Mary A. (Creator), Vlahos, Penny (Major Advisor), Mason, Robert (Associate Advisor), Siedlecki, Samantha (Associate Advisor), Whitney, Mike (Associate Advisor), University of Connecticut (Degree grantor)
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Connecticut 2022
• Subjects: Long Island; Long Island Sound; Englan; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:860717434; https://digitalcollections.ctstatelibrary.org/islandora/object/20002%3A860717434/datastream/TN/view/Examination%20of%20Controlling%20Parameters%20for%20Total%20Alkalinity%20in%20Long%20Island%20Sound%20Rivers.jpg

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions have steadily increased since industrial times, leading to more CO2 absorbed by the ocean. The resulting decrease of pH in the upper ocean, defined as ocean acidification (OA), has numerous adverse effects on the biological and chemical health of marine systems. An important combative to OA is the natural buffering capacity of the ocean, total alkalinity (TA). While open ocean TA has been widely measured and predicted, recent studies have revealed gaps in knowledge for the controlling parameters of TA in coastal regions, which represent both ecologically and economically significant ecosystems. The Long Island Sound is the third largest estuary in the United States and is vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors. This master’s project is the first attempt to resolve the TA system in Long Island Sound rivers and employ previously unmeasured parameters (Chlorophyll, Dissolved Oxygen, Nutrients, Turbidity, pH, Temperature, and Dissolved Organic Carbon) in the development of a regionally specific, attributive model. In situ data was collected across four rivers from 2020-2022 over complete tidal ranges. Large spatial discrepancy was observed between Eastern Long Island Sound rivers (ELIS) and the Western Long Island Sound (WLIS) rivers due to the unique lithogenic characteristics of the various rivers with maximum TA values of 1913 and 808 μmol/kg seen in the WLIS and ELIS respectively. Implementation of multi-linear regression (MLR) showed pronounced differences between the ELIS and WLIS regions which support physical, and biogeochemical controls, respectively. Comparison of the resulting model with previous models derived for coastal systems showed good agreement in ELIS but poor agreement in WLIS. The WLIS MLR analysis in this study showed a significant improvement in estimating TA over existing models. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries Alkalinity, Ocean Acidification, Estuaries, Rivers, New Englan, ...